The present invention generally relates to remote controls for controlling home entertainment devices and, more particularly, to a remote control having a touch pad for controlling a home entertainment device.
Other than being remote, home entertainment (HE) device remote controls are generally despised by human operators for a variety of reasons. There are many reasons why HE remote controls are not liked. HE remote controls are based on a button-centric paradigm and usually contain too many buttons, This crowded geography causes considerable confusion and intimidation and makes it difficult to find the desired button. It is often dark in the room in which HE remote controls are used. This makes it difficult or impossible to read the legends on the crowded button layout.
Normal home entertainment viewing takes place at a distance of 3 meters or more and the display being viewed is usually quite large such as a TV having a diagonal viewing surface falling between 27xe2x80x3 to 72xe2x80x3. The legends on HE remote controls are usually twelve point type or smaller. For many operators, changing viewing distance requires changing glasses or putting on reading glasses.
Enhanced TV and related applications require the extensive use of graphic user interfaces (GUI) and on-screen displays/menus. An enhanced TV is a TV configured for cable video programming, Internet browsing, Internet telephony, video cassette recording, stereo receiving, and the like. The operator has to navigate through various menus to use enhanced TV. Using up, down, right, and left arrow keys to navigate these menus is difficult, slow, and frustrating. The increasing number of television channels has given rise to the electronic program guide (EPG). Because an EPG is a dense grid of selections, using arrow keys to navigate is even more difficult.
Interactive television requires text entry. The current solution, a wireless keyboard, is undesirable in a living room because many people cannot type, the keyboard does not fit the decor of the living room, there is no place to set the keyboard down to type on it, and people simply refuse to have computer related material in living rooms. In addition, typing is associated with work and is not desired to be in a room devoted to entertainment.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a remote control having a touch pad that recognizes gestures performed on the touch pad for controlling a home entertainment (HE) device.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a remote control having a touch pad operable with a display screen for displaying a gesture performed on the touch pad.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an HE remote control having a touch pad operable with a display screen for displaying a gesture performed on the touch pad in which the display screen is mapped to the touch pad so that a gesture performed on the touch pad surface area is scaled correspondingly on to the display screen.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide an HE remote control having a touch pad operable with a display screen for providing an indication of an enabled home entertainment device control function corresponding to a gesture performed on the touch pad.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide an HE remote control having a touch pad operable with a home entertainment device display screen provided with a movable object such that in response to an operator touching the touch pad the movable object is moved to the location of the display screen corresponding to the location of the touch on the touch pad.
It is still yet another object of the present invention to provide an HE remote control having a touch pad operable with a home entertainment device display screen provided with a movable object such that in response to an operator touching the touch pad the movable object is moved to the location of the display screen corresponding to the location of the touch on the touch pad thereby enabling a control function corresponding to the location of the movable object on the display screen for controlling an HE device.
It is still yet a further object of the present invention to provide an HE remote control having a touch pad operable with a display screen provided with an electronic program guide listing programming choices.
Still, it is still yet another object of the present invention to provide an HE remote control having a touch pad operable with a display screen provided with a menu listing control functions for an HE device.
Still, it is still a further object of the present invention to provide an HE remote control having a touch pad operable with a keyboard provided with alphanumeric keys for controlling an HE device.
In carrying out the above objects and other objects, the present invention provides a remote control for controlling a home entertainment device. The remote control includes a touch pad having a surface area for an operator to touch for performing a gesture thereon. The touch pad generates a signal in response to a gesture performed on the touch pad surface area. The signal is indicative of the gesture performed on the touch pad surface area. Each gesture performed on the touch pad surface area corresponds to a home entertainment device control function. A controller is operable with the touch pad for receiving a signal from the touch pad in response to a gesture performed on the touch pad surface area. In response to receiving a signal from the touch pad the controller controls the home entertainment device to enable the control function corresponding to the gesture performed on the touch pad surface area.
Further, in carrying out the above objects and other objects, the present invention provides a remote control for controlling a home entertainment device having a display screen provided with a movable object. The remote control includes a touch pad having a surface area for an operator to touch. The touch pad is operable with the display screen such that the display screen is mapped to the touch pad surface area. The touch pad generates a signal in response to an operator touching the touch pad surface area. The signal is indicative of the location of the touch on the touch pad surface area. A controller is operable with the touch pad for receiving a signal from the touch pad in response to an operator touching the touch pad surface area. In response to an operator touching the touch pad surface area the controller moves the movable object on the display screen to the location on the display screen corresponding to the location of the touch on the touch pad surface area.
These and other features, aspects, and embodiments of the present invention will become better understood with regard to the following description, appended claims, and accompanying drawings.